Sanctuary of Memories
by StellarMind
Summary: "Remember me and smile, because it's better than to cry". NaruSaku NaruIno


**A/N: Some characters are OOC, some are not. Well, that's that.**

"Talking"  
_'Thinking/Flashback'_  
**"Kyuubi/Inner Sakura/Inner Ino"  
**_**"Kyuubi thinking"  
Jutsu**_

**Insert disclaimer here**

**Chapter I**

_(Revised from Naruto Manga chapter 4)_

"Sasuke-kun, you're so shy! Are you ready now? I sure am", shouted Sakura as she saw Sasuke heading towards her, not knowing the other Sasuke was in fact Naruto. Like the usual setting, Sasuke ignored her.

"It's time to go. Where's Naruto?", asked Sasuke while looking around for him. Sakura disregarded the question and asked him while smiling.

"Don't change the subject, Sasuke-kun. Who cares about Naruto? All he does is get in fights with you or pranking and anything. Well, he doesn't have parents.", this got Sasuke's attention, "If I ever do something like that, my mother would get mad at me. He's so lucky, all alone and free to do anything without fear of being scolded by parents."

This made Sasuke glare at Sakura and talked to her with hatred in his voice. "This sadness, the one you feel when your parents get mad at you is nothing compared to what he feels, you who lived a normal life.", this made Sakura uncomfortable and asked Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun? What's wrong?"

Sasuke turned his back and said, "You're annoying.", then started walking away from her.

Sakura was taken aback after hearing those words. She knew Sasuke is like that, but to hear those words from him hurted her. She sat in the bench while thinking the earlier events that happened. '_Did Naruto feel like this, too? Maybe I'll be nicer next time.'_

Then here comes Ino who's looking around for Sasuke. She saw Sakura sitting in the bench and called for her. "Hey Sakura, did you see Sasuke-kun? I have a new jutsu and I want to use it in him". The respons she heard was just, "Yeah". Then she noticed the look on Sakura's face and sat next to her. "What's wrong?"

Sakura told Ino everything that happened. "I didn't know it hurts to be told by someone that you're annoying and I told that to Naruto. What should I do, Ino?"

Worried of her bestfriend, Ino tried to comfort her. "Bah, this is Naruto we're talking. Maybe he's now anywhere doing pranks again. I know, why don't we use my new jutsu on him. That way, we'll find out what he felt that time."

It cheered Sakura a bit. "Really? What's this jutsu about?", said Sakura whose now curious.

Ino grabbed her hand and led the way. "It's a mind reading jutsu. I still can't perfect it but I'm doing well. And Naruto'll be my test subject instead of Sasuke-kun. We'll do it this afternoon, in the classroom.", she said while laughing.

/-/

Noon break is almost up and most of the students are already inside the classroom.

'_Geez, what did that idiot do?'_ Sasuke was now wondering what Naruto did while he transformed into him. He'll be sorry if he did something idiotic. Whilst Naruto, on the other hand, is drowned on his thoughts on why he liked Sakura so much.

When Ino and Sakura arrived in the room, they immediately looked for Naruto. Noticing he's in his usual place, they both sat behind him. Then Ino whispered to Sakura, "Get a hold of my hand". Sakura grabbed Ino's hand and Ino formed the triangle seal and whispered Dokushinjutsu. After that, they were able to enter Naruto's mind without Naruto knowing.

"So this is what it looks like when you enter someone's mind. It's kinda.. creepy.", said Sakura who's holding into Ino's arm.

"It's usually like this when it's your first time. But eventually, you'll get used to it. Ah, here it is, the memory part of the brain. Here we go", said Ino.

Then they entered that part. In there, they saw Naruto when he was little. "Aww, he's so cute", giggled Ino. And what they saw next was something they couldn't gobble up. Naruto was playing all alone in the park, the kids won't play with him even if he begs them. Then two male adults grabbed him and beat him to the ground while saying "Die, monster" 'til he can't get up and then they told the kids to throw stones at him. Such horror could be seen there. The two girls almost fainted while seeing that scene. They couldn't find their voice. All the adults around are just standing there with a horrible smile in their face. None were trying to stop the children nor helping him. When they felt that they've done more than enough, they left Naruto to die.. Poor Naruto was crying while saying "mommy, daddy". But no one came, not even a shadow.

The two girls couldn't find the courage to continue the brutality they saw. But the jutsu wouldn't stop for a brief moment. They felt the all the glares that Naruto received, the pain that Naruto felt. When the jutsu was undone, their seatmates screamed when they suddenly fainted. Naruto heard the screaming and saw that Ino and Sakura were unconscious. He immediately ran towards the teacher's lounge and called for Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei! Ino-chan and Sakura-chan fainted! Hurry, hurry!", said Naruto between his breaths. Said teacher immediately stood up and ran towards his classroom. In the classroom almost all of the students panicked. Iruka then shouted, "Calm down everyone and go back to your seats!". After that, he carried Ino and told Naruto to carry Sakura. Both of them immediately went to the clinic and placed each girl in a bed.

"What happened?", said the nurse while checking the girls. Both of them were sweating so hard.

"I don't know, we just heard someone screamed and what I saw next is they're already unconscious.", said Naruto, worried about the two.

"Naruto, stay there while I contact their parents. Let me know if something happens.", said Iruka and got out of the room.

When Iruka was gone, Naruto is panicking and kept asking the nurse "Are they gonna be ok?" The nurse, irritated, told Naruto, "Calm down and take a sit, Naruto-kun. Or I will force you to."

Naruto then grabbed a seat while trying to calm down. _'__I hope they'll be ok.'_

Moments later, Inoichi came looking worried with Iruka. Then he asked, "What happened to this two?". Naruto stood up and answered, "I don't know, old man. They just fainted suddenly in the classroom."

Inoichi calmed down and said, "Okay I'll take it from here". Using a shadow clone, he carried the two girls. "I'll take them home, Iruka. Please excuse them."

Iruka nodded. "Don't worry about it. Naruto let's go back". Naruto asked Inoichi, "Will they be alright?". Inoichi nodded. "Yes they'll be, little one."

The three of them left the nurse' room wondering what happened.

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Inoichi brought the two girls in his home and called for Sakura's mother, who came faster than he expected. She immediately entered his house without knocking.

"Where's my baby?", she said between her breath.

Inoichi grabbed a seat and offered it to Sakura's mother. "Calm down and have a seat, Sayuri-san. The kids are fine. They're resting in Ino's room. Tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please", then she sat down and calmed herself. Inoichi went to the kitchen and brought back two cups of tea and some snacks.

"I was really surprised when Iruka said they fainted in the classroom. I still don't know the reason though. Iruka said that it was Naruto who came rushing to the faculty's lounge."

Sayuri sipped her tea. "Naruto? I'll have to thank him for doing that. I mean, he maybe a prankster but he's a good kid."

Inoichi nodded. "We'll just ask them when they wake up. I'm sure it won't be that long."

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"Ugh, where am I?"

She immediately scanned the place and noticed it was hers, and Sakura was on her side. _'__Oh, in my room. What happened?'_

Then the memories hit her. She then woke Sakura up. "Sakura, wake up."

Sakura then wiped her eyes and asked her, "Where are we?"

Ino stood up and grabbed her hand. "In my room. More importantly, we have to tell Iruka-sensei about what we saw."

They immediately ran towards the door and saw their parents in the living room. "Mom/Dad".

The two quickly stood up and walked towards their daughter. Inoichi asked first, "What happened?"

Ino and Sakura started to cry and then hugged their parent. "It was terrible, dad. We couldn't swallow what we saw."

Sayuri wiped her daughter's eyes. "What happened?"

"I did something bad to Naruto, and Ino and me wanted to find out what he felt that time."

Inoichi then grasped the situation. "And you used the technique I taught you."

Ino nodded. "But what we saw was something more than what we want to know. He... he was beaten up by the adults and almost stoned to death by the kids!"

Sakura seconded, "And no one wanted to help him. Instead, they were glaring at him with so much hate. He almost died! But we didn't know why they did that to him. It's almost as if they want him dead."

Sayuri and Inoichi looked at each other and nodded. Inoichi spoke first. "First, don't tell anyone about what you saw. Second, now you know why Naruto would do those pranks. Because no one would acknowledge him, he wanted to prove his existence."

Sayuri then spoke. "And by doing those pranks, he was hoping that the people would recognize him since he had no family to begin with."

Both of the girls are now crying harder. They knew his background but it was just a mere droplet of water in an ocean.

Inoichi patted both of their head. "Both of you were so lucky to have us", then he motioned for them to sit down. "And have friends. What do you want to do now?"

Both girls wiped their eyes and Ino answered. "We'll tell him that we're sorry for the things that we did."

And Sakura added, "And tell him we want to be friends with him."

Both parents smiled_.__ '__It's a good thing.'_

Sayuri clapped her hands and said, "Well said, girls. I'm pretty sure he'd like that since he only have a few friends here. But it's time to go home, Sakura."

Ino grabbed Sayuri's shirt. "Umm.. can she sleep here, oba-chan? I don't want to sleep alone in my room tonight."

Inoichi added, "Why don't the two of you spend the night here? I'm pretty sure Toriko would like that."

Even her daughter was looking at her with a 'please'. Sighing in defeat, she agreed. "Well, since I'm the only one, I'll agree to that.", and smiled.

/-/

It was still early in the morning, and the three adults are already awake and talking in the dining table.

"So how're you, Sayuri? It's been a while since we got together like this.", asked Toriko.

Sayuri sipped her tea and answered, "Well, it's kinda hard at first, raising Sakura on my own but I did manage. After Keiji passed, I felt I couldn't live anymore. It was thanks to Sakura and you guys that I recovered."

"That said, how did you change your view on Naruto? I thought you hated that kid, since, you know, THAT incident.", asked Inoichi.

"Well, I did hate that kid before. I was like them, thinking shallow, that he's that Demon fox. Just like them, I lost my husband that night. I was devastated."

Inoichi thought that it was turning to be a women's talk. "I think I'll prepare breakfast.", then walked to the kitchen.

Toriko nodded. "What made you change your mind?"

She closed her eyes for a moment. and that made Toriko wonder. "Sayuri?"

She opened them again, and answered, "It was he, himself, who changed me. I guess you could say he's also a reason why I'm doing fine now."

She was about to continue when the two girls got out of the room. They are still rubbing their eyes.

"Is breakfast ready? I'm quite starving.", said Ino while walking towards the dining room. "We need to get to the academy as early as possible. We still have yet to know who's gonna be our sensei."

"Don't worry about me, Toriko-san. I'm on a diet.", said Sakura. This earned her a light bump on the head.

"What are you saying, Sakura? You're already fit and you're still going on a diet? If you don't eat breakfast, I won't let you get out of my house."

Sayuri just nodded. She knew so well not to argue with Toriko. But she's right though.

Sakura sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll eat breakfast. **"If I ever get fat because of this, you'll get it!"**, screamed inner Sakura while clenching her inner fist.

/-/

'_What's taking sensei so long? It's like we're waiting for forever here. And I hope Sakura-chan gets here. I cannot stand sitting with this guy here. For some reason, my blood always boils when our eyes meet',_thought Naruto.

Remembering what happened yesterday, Naruto wondered how the two girls are. '_I hope they're both ok. What happened with those two anyway?'_

/-/

"Come on Sakura, we're gonna be late! We have to hurry.", said Ino who started running. Sakura started to run, too.

"Jeez it's your mom's fault! She made me eat breakfast.", said Sakura.

"Whatever, we're both at fault since we ate too much and forgot about the time."

Sakura hated that idea and just shrugged it off. "Yeah, I guess we are."

/-/

Iruka arrived in the classroom. Naruto now wonder what's Ino and Sakura's condition is at the moment. They usually arrive early to stare and argue over Sasuke, but not this time.

"Alright, get back to your seats. As you've already knew, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino passed out in class yesterday so Team 7 and Team 10 have yet to meet their Jounin sensei. I've already talked to them, and they said they'll meet their team here in the classroom. The rest of you can go and meet your sensei now."

Noticing Ino and Sakura's seat is vacant, he assumed their conditions are still not well. "So I guess both Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura..."

Then the door slowly opened, without someone entering. "... just arrived. Both of you can stand up."

The two girls gulped. Ino whispered, _"I told you we should have waited until he went out. Now we're busted, forehead."_

Sakura gave Ino an 'is-it-my-fault' look. Then they slowly stood up, and unanimously said, "We just arrived, sensei."

Iruka sighed. "You know you could have just entered normally. I can still feel your presence even if you did that. Since you two came to school it's safe to say you're both ok."

Both girls just scratched the back of their head. "We're sorry."

Iruka then assumed that they heard what he was saying earlier, continued. "As what I said earlier, Teams 7 and 10 have yet to meet their Jounin senseis so their staying in the classroom. The others can go now."

After the others left, Iruka spoke to them. "Alright I must also take my leave now. I have so much paperwork to do. I hope you'll give your respective Jounin sensei the same respect you've given me."

Naruto covered his mouth, trying to prevent himself from bursting into laughter. Iruka noticed this and asked him.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?"

Naruto, unable to remove his left hand from his mouth, used his right hand to waive at Iruka, trying to give him the 'it's nothing' waive. Iruka bought it and went out. After a few minutes, Naruto bursts into laughter.

"HAHAHA treat them like I treat him? Is he sure about that!", said Naruto while still laughing so hard.

'_This guy's really a retard. I'll just stay away from him.'_, thought Sasuke, ignoring Naruto like he always does.

Whilst, Shikamaru just yawned. _'I hope we'll get over this. This is so troublesome.'_

And as for Chouji, well, he just stacked his mouth with chips. These three doesn't care what's what as long as they're not bothered.

An hour has passed and both Jounins still haven't arrived. Naruto became furious.

"Why are they so late! I can't believe this!"

He quickly grabbed two blackboard erasers and placed them in each door. "That should do the trick!"

Sasuke and Shikamaru saw what Naruto is planning and shrugged it off. '_As if those Jounins would fall for that.'_

Both Ino and Sakura were infuriated by that. They shouted unanimously, "Naruto!"

Naruto faced them and pointed at the erasers. "Those people deserve that!"

The two girls then crossed their arms. Sakura spoke first, "As if the likes of them would fall for something like that."

Ino nodded. "Yeah, they're like one of the strongest ninjas in Konoha."

But on their minds they were thinking that this things are pretty funny.

Naruto retorted. "Well see about that!".

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In the hallway, both Kakashi and Asuma were talking about their future team.

Kakashi sighed. "This is pretty much not to my liking. I can particularly guess that my team won't pass."

Asuma smiled. "You know, things aren't usually going the way we want it to so let's just probably enjoy it."

As they approached the door, Asuma motioned for Kakashi to enter first and he did. The moment he peeked at the room, the eraser fell on top of his head. Naruto's laughter could be heard all over the hallway. The two girls opened their mouth in disbelief. But inside their head, both their inner persona were shouting, "**Yeah! One for the money!**"

Asuma also chuckled. "Haha they got you, Kakashi". Then he entered the room using the other door and the second eraser fell into his head. This made Naruto rolling on the floor laughing so hard. And the girls' inner personas were now punching in the air while shouting, **"Two for the show! Shannaro!"**

Both Shikamaru and Sasuke were in disbelief. _'Are they really Jounins?'_

Kakashi then faced Asuma, smiled, and said, "Likewise."

Naruto then stood up and pointed at the two of them. "I got the both of you!"

Ino and Sakura said in unison. "We tried to stop him, sensei."

Kakashi and Asuma wiped the chalk dust and spoke. "Our first impression is, We HATE you!"

Everyone sweatdropped. _"Are they kids?"_ is what they're thinking.

"Alright, let's go outside and introduce ourselves." Said Kakashi. They went to a nearby park and sat under the shade of a tree. Kakashi was reading his favorite book while Asuma is smoking.

Asuma spoke first. "Alright, let the loud one speak first.", pointing to Naruto. Naruto stood up.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen the best. I hate the time when I'm waiting for the ramen to cook. My goals are to make everyone acknowledge me and become the strongest and best hokage this village has ever seen!". With that, he sat again. Both jounin were surprised by that. '_He grew up well'. _"Next, the pink-haired girl."

Sakura stood up. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like my friends and families. I hate it when someone teased me because of my forehead. My dream is to become a famous kunoichi like Tsunade-sama, one of the Sannin". Naruto wondered for a bit. "Why would someone tease you because of your forehead? Are they stupid? That means more brains, right? Besides, it looks good on you." This made Sakura blushed. "Thanks, Naruto". Naruto smiled at her. The jounins were surprised again. '_I didn't know Naruto is a sweet talker'._ "Next, the blonde girl."

Sakura sat down and Ino stood up. "My name is Yamanaka Ino, from the Yamanaka clan. I like flowers and cute things. But I like Sasuke-kun the most!" Saying this, she covered her face because it's beef red while Sasuke just sighed. Shikamaru thought '_Girls really are troublesome. When will this ever end?'_ Chouji just kept on eating his chips. The jounins just shook their head. _'Well, most girls of her age would focus on romance rather than ninjutsu.'_ Ino continued, "What I hate is when they call me a pig. I mean, I'm not that fat", while saying this, she glanced at Chouji, emphasizing he's the fat one. "And my goal is the same as Sakura's". Naruto wondered again. "You're not fat, Ino-chan. You have a great figure", said Naruto with a smile. Like Sakura, Ino blushed, too, after hearing his statement. Kakashi whispered to Asuma, "Hey, Naruto's quite the ladies' man, ain't he?" Asuma chuckled. "Yeah, quite a charmer for his age. Though he's not aware of that".

Then he faced the children and said, "Next, lazy-face guy." Annoyed by the nickname, Shikamaru stood. "I'm Nara Shikamaru from the Nara clan. I like the clouds, because they just float around. I hate troublesome things and my goal is to have a simple life". Both jounins sweatdropped. _'He's one simple dude'._

"Next, chips guy". After eating the last chip, Chouji stood up. "I'm Akimichi Chouji, from the Akimichi clan. I like food, but I like yakiniku the best. I hate it when people wastes their food because that's cruel. My goal is to be the best in our clan." After that, he sat down and grabbed another bag of chips from his bag. They sweatdropped.

"And finally, the rookie of the year." Sasuke stood up. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like any thing and I hate many things. My goal, no, it's more like an ambition, is to revive my clan, and to kill a certain someone". With this statement, both jounin had a serious face. _'Just as we expected.'_ Then they stood up. Kakashi spoke first. "Ok we're done here. After hearing each introduction, we changed our opinions. We kinda like you guys now." Asuma then spoke. "Yeah, and we came to a conclusion that we will have a joint final exam of team 7 and 10. You'll know the details tomorrow. And don't eat breakfast, you'll puke tomorrow." With that, both jounins disappear leaving the kids wondering.

Naruto spoke first, "What! I thought the final test was the Bunshin no Jutsu. That means they lied to us!". Sasuke stood up and said, "Whatever it is, I'm still going to pass that test", and jumped off. Shikamaru yawned. "Sheesh, another troublesome test. Why don't they just make something simple and get on with it? Come on, Chouji, let's go home." He stood up and started walking while Chouji followed him. Naruto was now furious. "How come they're so calm about it? I barely passed the academy exam and now we'll have another one? Darn it! I'll have to pass it, too."

When he was about to leave, both girls grabbed his shirt and forced him to sit in between them. Sakura spoke first, "Naruto, did you really mean what you said earlier? About my forehead?". Ino inserted as well. "Yeah, also about me having a great figure?". Naruto was dumbfounded. He never expected this to happen. "Yes, I mean it. Both of you are beautiful so have confidence in yourselves." This made them blush again. It's the first time for them being told by a guy that they're beautiful. Then Sakura remembered what she said to him yesterday. "Naruto, I'm sorry for saying those words yesterday and for the things I've done." Ino also said, "Me, too. I'm sorry for everything." Then they both said, "Can we be friends?" Naruto stood up and faced the girls. "Of course we're friends. I mean, I considered you two as my friend long time ago." With that statement, the girls immediately hugged, or more like locked the air out of him. "Cant..breath.." They released him afterwards. Naruto coughed and said, "Are you two trying to kill me!" The girls laughed and Ino said, "If we were, you'd be dead by now". Naruto gulped nervously. He knew too well about what these two can do. Sakura then grabbed his hand. "Let's all go home together!" Ino, liking the idea, grabbed Naruto's other hand. "Yeah!". Naruto agreed, knowing full well what they can do to him if he declines. Besides, it's not a bad image having two beauties walking beside you.

When they arrived at Ino's house, they waived goodbye and Naruto immediately jumped off because he didn't want them to see the smile plastered in his face. The girls immediately entered the Yamanaka residence and saw that their parents are talking in the living room. They happily told their parents what happened that day.

When Naruto entered his apartment, he immediately lie down in his bed, remembering the events that happened earlier. He then took a pen and wrote on his calendar, "My Luckiest Day".

"Tomorrow I will prove to them I can pass their test!"

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**A/N: So I rewrote it, hoping to improve the story. Review if you hate it or like it.**

**Ja ne.**

**-StellarMind**


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